


When does Extraordinary become Ordinary

by Cinn (Lilitia)



Category: NCIS, Primeval
Genre: Action/Adventure, Banter, Crossover, Friendship, Investigations, Mishaps, Secrets, Suspicions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2020-10-26 04:02:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20735912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilitia/pseuds/Cinn
Summary: To one team it's an ordinary day with complications, to the other it's the most unusual case they've ever faced. Will they be able to cooperate to prevent disaster, or will they drive each other insane?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Lilitia; When I was at uni I started an NCIS/Primeval crossover that, honestly, I didn't put a lot of effort into. Somehow, people on FF.net seemed to like it, which is why I actually finished it 8 years later. So I figured I'd also post it onto AO3 as well. I'm still not sure I can write Gibbs, but what the heck.

Disclaimer: I do not own either Primeval or NCIS, or anything else I might mention throughout the fic if I forget to add it up here.

Generic setting; late series 5 NCIS, early series 3 Primeval.

* * *

It missed, and not for the first time that morning. Ziva glanced up in annoyance as Tony barely aimed another screwed up piece of paper at the bin next to her desk again. "What are you doing?" She demanded.

"Being bored." Tony replied, throwing another piece, and Ziva kicked the bin to make sure it caught it this time. "Whoa, do that again." He added, and screwed up another piece.

"Throw another piece and I swear I will kill you."

"You also threatened to kill me with a paper clip and a spoon, I think we've tamed you down to threats by now." Tony replied.

"I wouldn't try her, Tony." McGee spoke up, not even looking up from the computer screen as he continued typing.

Tony looked at McGee. "Probie, if she was going to kill me, she'd have done it a long time ago." He stated calmly. "Isn't that right, Ziva?" He added, turning back around to look at her, and barely had time to notice the empty desk before and then seconds later he was seeing the world sideways, and McGee grinning to himself as he carried on with his work.

Ziva leaned in to his ear. "Tony, I haven't killed you yet because I don't have diplomatic immunity, but I can't promise anything if you carry on annoying me." She stated, and then twisted his arm a little further before releasing him and going back to her own desk, and Tony sat up again rubbing the side of his face.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, McProbie." Tony stated. "Or I'll come over there and smack it off for you."

McGee said nothing, and carried on grinning anyway, knowing that if Tony did, Gibbs would walk along and smack him for it. That was the one advantage of being the geeky one that got everything done, the boss would defend you in a weird kind of way. Even if it was 'inappropriate behaviour'.

"Paper work really does suck." Tony complained to himself, and both Ziva and McGee noted that it wasn't for the first time that morning.

"I'd rather be doing paper work than investigating murders."

"Investigating is far more interesting."

"Yes, but I'd rather not have people die to provide us a job." McGee explained.

"Fair point." Tony agreed.

A silence fell over the team again as their focus went back to their work. Especially when Gibbs returned with his coffee not long later. The time was passing slowly, and at various points they all made an excuse to head away for a few minutes, passing by Abby's lab just to find out what she was up to. She was as bored as them, and was redecorating, or more rather moving around all her decorations.

They also found themselves getting excited every time someone's desk phone rang. It was mid-afternoon, just as Ziva was returning to her desk after a quick break that the call came in. Even she found herself hurrying back to her desk slightly in anticipation. "We've got a dead navy officer in England."

"We're going to England?" Tony asked excitedly.

~*x*~

Meanwhile in the City of London, the ARC team were just finishing off their current jobs and about to head home. Jenny had just wandered into the Ops area on her way to drop a report off to Lester when she'd bumped into Connor and they'd got talking, and Abby had joined them not long after. It was during this conversation that the alarms went off. Connor ran towards the detector and started madly typing away. "It's at the docks." He stated, as Cutter appeared in the doorway having clearly just run there, and Captain Becker wasn't far behind him.

It wasn't a long drive, as they'd just missed the rush hour having slightly longer hours than everyone else. When they arrived they all climbed out of the cars, the soldiers were quickly organised by Becker to seal off a perimeter and to evacuate the immediate area. The rest of them all followed the detectors to try and find the anomaly.

Suddenly, Abby stopped, and as Connor opened his mouth to ask why she shushed him. "Did you hear that?" She asked after a few moments of intense listening.

"Hear what?" Connor asked, and no one else seemed to have heard anything.

"I thought I heard something, sounded like footsteps." She added.

"Maybe it was Becker or the soldiers?" Jenny suggested.

"Maybe." Abby agreed, though she didn't seem convinced. They were just setting off another another moment of listening when the detectors beeped.

"It's closed." Connor stated, looking up from his detector and around at the group.

"Well let's hope nothing came through." Cutter stated. "We'll search the area, Abby, I want you looking out for tracks." He added. The bleach blonde nodded and they set off in the direction they were going.

"Professor!" Came a shout, it was Becker, and they ran towards the shout. They all stopped dead when they rounded a container to face the scene. Becker and one of his soldiers were stood next to a body in uniform, a body that had been half torn to shreds. No one needed to state that he was dead, it was painfully obvious. Jenny was instantly on her phone, explaining to Lester.

"Becker, I want the perimeter sealed, now. And no one touches the body without gloves and they only touch it to try and get an identification and they take pictures before they do it." She ordered, her bossy nature kicking in in an instant, just before Lester picked up his phone.

Connor had a pair of gloves in his bag and Cutter took them. "Do we have a camera?" Abby asked.

"There's one in the car." Cutter replied. Abby nodded and went to get it, it didn't take her long to return, by which point Becker was also back from making sure the perimeter was sealed. Abby set to taking pictures, and then Cutter went to try and find the dog tags, staying in the area around the body with the least blood, which was fairly difficult, for which Abby continued to snap pictures for, showing where they'd been.

Jenny tiredly agreed to something Lester was saying and then asked him to hold on. "Do we know which force he's from?" She asked, not even moving the phone from where it was to stop Lester hearing.

"The uniform's American Navy." Becker replied, Jenny nodded and relayed the message to Lester.

After a few more tired sounding agreements Jenny put the phone down. "Well that's made Lester's day, he gets to argue with the Director of NCIS over rights and secrets and god knows what else." She commented. "Where's the creature now then?" She added, looking around. Cutter had just stood up again after retrieving the name of their victim. "Becker?" Jenny asked. "I assume you searched the area."

"My men are doing that now." He explained.

"Ok." Jenny decided. Then noticed a ship leaving from the dock on the other side of the bay. "I need to find out about the traffic from here." She decided. "No one touches anything else until we're given permission from whoever gets custody!" She added sharply, turning on her heel and whipping her phone out again.

"It's been a while since she's been this bossy." Connor muttered.

"Can't blame her, given the situation." Abby replied, having now stopped taking pictures. She only had pictures of the body before, during and after they'd been retrieving the dog tags

They'd all stood up, still looking at the body. "Well, what do we do know?" Abby asked.

"We find the creature, and hope we don't have to do anything else that requires crime scene skills, as we don't have any." Cutter replied. Just as Becker's men returned to report that they'd found no creature.

"Maybe it went back?" Connor asked.

"Wherever it's gone, it's left the body." Abby stated. "Which means something scared it away." She smiled her greeting as Jenny reappeared.

Jenny slid her phone shut and repocketed it. "Right, we're not allowed to move or touch anything and we need to protect it from the weather." She added, glancing upwards. "We look to have some time before it starts raining again." She decided. "But I want it waterproof as soon as possible." She added, giving them all a specific look, and turned to head off.

"Then what?" Becker asked.

"Then NCIS come and take over and treat it as a crime scene." Jenny explained, stopping to turn back to them. "They'll arrive tomorrow morning. For now, they don't need to know about anomalies. Until their Medical Examiner decides that it's definitely a creature that killed him, they don't need to know anything, after that Lester's going to be even angrier than he already is." She added, firmly.

"I don't doubt that." Connor muttered. "Though I'd quite liked to have watched that conversation." He added as an afterthought as they set to protecting the crime scene from the weather. Becker getting nitpicky about how wide the area they had to waterproof was, which meant Jenny was on the phone a while longer, whilst resolved in Lester deciding to get his staff basic crime scene training.

From then on it was a waiting game until the NCIS agents arrived in the morning, and so they left the soldiers on guard and headed back to the ARC, and then most headed home, and a few stayed behind to make at least a start on the paper work they'd just acquired.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own either Primeval or NCIS, or anything else I might mention throughout the fic if I forget to add it up here.

Generally set; late series 5 NCIS, early series 3 Primeval.

* * *

"I really hate priority flights." Tony grumbled, again. They had just arrived in England, and it was still dark, it was one in the morning. They were picking up their bags, when a man in a smart suit greeted them.

"Welcome." He stated, Ziva and Gibbs shared a look, they knew the politeness was somewhat faked. "James Lester, Home Office, I'm in charge. We've got you a couple of rooms in a hotel not far from here to stay in. I'll assume you'd like to go there now?" He finished, and whilst it was structured as a suggestion, it very definitely wasn't, and so they stored the bags in the cars and then climbed in themselves and were shown to their current accommodation

Lester, Gibbs and McGee were in one car, Ducky, Ziva and Tony the other, each with a driver. "So, what have we got?" Gibbs asked, finding his paper-pad and pen out of his pocket. He'd got the most sleep on the plane, the other's hadn't even tried, and so was the most awake and most prepared.

"Well, that's why you're here." Lester replied. "Your body, your rules. We'll provide you with facilities for autopsy and forensics, and my scientists have experience in those areas, however we do not have crime scenes or investigations. Our research does not involve having to chase down a murderer and so we don't need as many rules."

"We'll need to see what you already have, and the crime scene as soon as possible."

"My team start at eight o'clock." Lester explained. "I must admit we weren't expecting you this soon, so they are all in bed. And you are not to go near the crime scene without them."

"You said yourself that they don't have the experience, so why do we need to wait for them?" Gibbs asked.

"Our site." Lester replied calmly. "And I would have assumed you'd like a chance to get some sleep." He added.

Gibbs nodded once, deciding that he could get McGee to look up where the nearest coffee shop was in the morning. McGee could do that quickly, and it would mean not having to ask this man where it was. They arrived at the hotel not long after, and it was quite obviously neat but cheap. The typical kind of lodging for visits of their kind.

"The cars will pick you up at half seven." Lester stated, and pulled out a card with numbers on it. "If you need them. You'll meet the team when you arrive, until then, I'll say good night." He added, with a quick smile, and headed out of the door again.

Tony dropped his bag on the floor. McGee reappeared in the doorway. "Two rooms then, for once." He stated. "Same size, and same number of beds." He added.

"We clearly got the family room." Ziva commented, following him through the lockable door between the two rooms.

"I call whichever room Ziva's not in." Tony stated.

"That works for me." Ziva agreed. Gibbs and Ducky caught each others eye, a secret smile flashing between the two long-time friends. It was like going on holiday with awkward children. Their solution was to simply claim their preferred, and therefore best, beds. The other three could figure it out themselves, and they knew if they didn't do it quickly then they'd be in for one hell of a Gibbs' wake-up call.

~-x-~

In the morning Jenny was the first one in the ARC, by half seven she was already on the phone and chasing up emails about the activity in the dock. She was not happy that they had taken a whole night to even bother to check, which meant that she was only just finding out now that the navy officer had been with a ship which was out of dock by a whole night. Which meant that she had to spend half an hour on the phone trying to get hold of someone with enough authority to order the ship to turn around.

She was still on the phone and getting more and more frustrated by the time Lester arrived with the NCIS team in tow. She smiled a greeting as she was still on hold. The rest of the team had drifted in at various points, and were hanging around the OPs area, either getting on with work, such as Connor, or just chatting waiting for their tasks for the day, such as Becker and Abby.

"Now that everyone's here..." Lester stated, as everyone wandered over as they saw him and their visitors, then realised someone was missing. "Where's Dr Page?" He asked just as the doors opened and Sarah half tumbled through them.

"Sorry." She said breathlessly. "Traffic's a nightmare." She added by way of explanation.

"As I was saying." Lester continued, pretending to have been in the middle of something, though it was clear from the looks Sarah exchanged with Becker and Abby that she knew she'd missed nothing. "These are our guests from NCIS." He explained. "Team leader Special Agent Gibbs, Medical Examiner Dr Mallard-" As Gibbs nodded at his name

"Ducky." Ducky interrupted

"Special Agents McGee and DiNozzo." DiNozzo looked all set to correct Lester about the order of names, but decided against it. McGee just smiled in a friendly way. "And Officer David." He added. Ziva smiled as well. "They have the skills and it's their body, so you do what they tell you with regards to that."

"Don't you trust us?" Connor muttered. Sarah and Abby both hid laughs behind coughs of their hands. Cutter and Becker exchanged an amused look. Jenny shook her head hopelessly as she carried on waiting for them to take her off hold.

Lester simply scowled at Connor. "That is Connor Temple, our geek." Lester simply stated. "This is team leader Professor Nick Cutter, head of Security is Captain Becker. Our researchers Dr Sarah Page and Abby Maitland, PR woman Jenny Lewis." They all smiled and vaguely waved in turn. Jenny smiled as her name was called just as the people finally took her off hold, so she took a step away to get them organised.

"So, what do we need?" Cutter asked, as Lester stepped away to head up to his office. Which launched the NCIS team into a quick discussion about what they needed to take which they hadn't brought with them.

Suddenly Jenny snapped her phone shut and ran up the ramp after Lester. "James." She called, and he stopped. "We have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"A navy ship left the dock yesterday before we arrived but after the anomaly opened." Jenny explained. "I don't have the authority to recall it or for anyone to recognise that I might have reasons for wanting it sent back."

"I'll see what I can do." Lester decided. "Now go. I don't want them finding out anything more than they need to know."

Jenny nodded, and hurried back down the ramp. "Everything alright?" Connor asked as she joined them.

"Yeah." She agreed. "Trying to recall a ship isn't as easy as it sounds." She explained.

"Why do you want to recall a ship?" Gibbs asked.

Everyone turned to Jenny, and she internally cursed, this was the one drawback to being the PR person, she was the one expected to lie and cover their tracks, and quickly. "We need to correctly ascertain what was going on in the docks at the time your navy officer died. That includes recalling any ships that were docked at that time." She explained calmly. Though she was a good liar, even if she thought so herself.

Gibbs carried on looking at her suspiciously, so she just held the gaze and raised a curious eyebrow when he didn't look away. "Alright then, do we get to see our crime scene?"

"Our crime scene, your body." Jenny corrected with a smile, and led the way out and towards the cars.

"I think we might just have found the British agency that pisses Gibbs off as much as the FBI..." Tony muttered to McGee and Ziva.

"Nah, we don't have Fornell here." McGee replied with a grin.

The ARC team chose not to ask who or what Fornell was. They simply decided that they'd be polite and friendly and hope that this wasn't going to involve creatures. Though they had a strong feeling from the state of the body they'd found that it almost definitely would. Unless they could pass it off as a mad dog... Which Connor had only suggested as a joke.

They arrived at the docks to be greeted by a couple of Becker's soldiers, who insisted on checking their IDs, and if Connor didn't know any better he'd have sworn he saw an approvingly proud look on Becker's face as they did. But he figured it was best not to wind Becker up, especially whilst they had visitors. The thought then struck him that that was a very sibling or household like attitude to have.

"Why the soldiers?" Ziva asked.

"To keep people out of the crime scene." Becker explained casually.

"Police too much hassle?" Tony asked with a grin, which was wiped off his face from the look Jenny gave him. He had never met a woman who could intimidate him, unless they were a lawyer, but then he recalled that this woman was in PR, which was worse than being a lawyer. However the other two girls, he could have fun here, he decided. Bit of friendly flirting just to shake things up.

When they arrived at the body the entire ARC team thought that it didn't get any prettier, and the NCIS team were all a bit taken aback and somewhat disgusted. "Oh now, what have we here?" Ducky asked.

"What did you touch?" Gibbs asked, as Ducky put down his bag next to the body and set to work, as Tony set to sketching, Ziva photographing Ducky's exploration of the body, and McGee photographing the crime scene, as the ARC team waited for some instructions or tasks for them to be getting on with.

"Captain Becker here recognised the uniform, so we searched for the dog tags." Cutter explained. "I had gloves on and Abby photographed it." He paused. "His name was Kurt J Miller, blood type AB positive, and a christian." Cutter explained, reciting the dog tags.

Gibbs nodded. "What have we got Duck?" He asked, only taking his eyes off the team to write the name down in his notebook.

"A mauled navy lieutenant" Ducky replied, with a liver probe. "Died around the same time as he was discovered." He added, sounding a little surprised.

"Mauled by what?" Gibbs asked.

"No idea." Ducky replied. "We're on a London Dock, not at a zoo... Unless any thing's escaped?" He asked, looking up at the ARC staff. What did that stand for?

"Nothing's been reported." Jenny stated, "But that doesn't mean it hasn't." she added, as her phone rang. "Excuse me." She added, turning her back to answer Lester's call. He did not sound happy, from the sounds of it he'd been having a lengthy argument with the director of NCIS. It also sounded like there had been a bit of a compromise and that they were going with an escaped tiger story. Mainly as Lester had needed to explain that the creature they thought was responsible was on that ship. And Lester had not wanted to say the words prehistoric creature, so zoo creature had worked better. Tiger must have been the first one that popped into his mind. "Well that was good timing." Jenny stated, turning back to the group again. "There has been an escaped tiger from a local zoo." She explained. "You said there was nothing when you searched the area yesterday?" She added, looking at Becker.

Becker feigned some vague surprise. "Nothing." He confirmed.

Jenny nodded. "Then it either left the docks and is running around London, or it got onto that ship." She decided, tapping her phone against her chin as she thought. "Lester's already notified the police to be on the look out."

"BOLO on a tiger, that's a new one." Tony joked with a smile, when everyone just raised an eyebrow at him as if they weren't amused, he just turned back to the sketching.

"Does he always say things like that?" Cutter asked Gibbs quietly.

"Not all the time." Gibbs replied calmly.

"Yeah, those oh so rare moments where I get amnesia from a strike to the back of the head..." Tony muttered under his breath.

The ARC team shared a confused look whilst McGee and Ziva shared a knowing smile and carried on with their work. They didn't find anything else, except one pair of scratch marks that further corroborated the tiger theory. At which point Ducky decided that he'd learnt all he could from the environment the body was discovered in. "Let's get him home, there's nothing else here." He decided, getting the body bag. "This is easier with Mr Palmer around." He muttered.

"Abby, you can help." Jenny murmured, Abby had done numerous creature autopsies, so would be least bothered by the gore, and would know best about what to do. Abby nodded in agreement, and wandered over to Ducky.

"Would you like a hand?" She asked.

Ducky looked up, at the strange girl who'd just offered a hand. He smiled. "Why yes, but do you know what to do?"

Abby smiled. "I'm a fast learner." She added.

"She's got veterinary experience." Jenny stated. "She'll be able to provide some help." Her tone suggested that no one should ask why Abby had veterinary experience. Though Gibbs made a note of it, he would quite like to know what was really going on. His gut was telling him something was being swept away from their sight, shame they were being cooperative enough to prevent him from being able to overrule them.

Jenny looked around, trying to calm down. She could tell that Gibbs did not trust them, and if he had his way he'd dig into their work. She had a feeling he wouldn't care too much about what they were up to, he just wanted to get to the truth about his sailor. Her thoughts were interrupted when Cutter wandered over to her, she smiled a greeting, trying to suppress the school girl grin from her face. "I want you keeping an eye on them." Cutter quietly stated.

"I was going to suggest the same." Jenny agreed, and turned to look at Becker to wave him over, mainly as an excuse to turn her back on their guests. "Abby can keep an eye on Ducky. You can take Gibbs." She added, just as Becker joined them. "Connor can keep an eye on their geek." It didn't take Becker long to suss out what they were discussing.

"That leaves David and DiNozzo." Becker stated quietly, subtly glancing at the new team to do a head count. "And You, Sarah and me." He added.

"You keep an eye on David." Jenny decided. "She looks like she'll be a tough one to read and to keep tabs on." Then thought. "Also, DiNozzo looks like he'll be more susceptible to a girl." She'd marked him as a player, based on how he'd done his fair share of looking at Sarah and Abby, and herself. Jenny quickly thought, Becker was more protective of Sarah, but DiNozzo had been looking at Sarah more than her. "Sarah and I will keep an eye on DiNozzo, depending on which one of us is around him." She decided quietly. "Though we can only do this during work hours."

They turned back when they heard Abby and Ducky move the body into the back of the truck. "Make sure they know." Jenny added quietly, and both guys agreed. They didn't want NCIS digging into their business too deeply. They went to help them load their equipment back into the cars and headed back to the ARC. At which point Gibbs told his team to start working on Miller's background, which meant that they had to steal one of the offices for them to set up shop.

Abby was helping Ducky down in the autopsy, and Sarah was waiting for any samples that they wanted forensics doing on. Whilst she didn't know a lot about forensics, she knew a lot about analysis, and had enough common sense to fill in the gaps. Connor was helping McGee set up the NCIS computers. Whilst everyone else was waiting around the room, apart from Jenny who was briefing Lester and being further briefed about what she was and wasn't allowed to say.

It didn't take long for the laptops to be set up, and them to get a link back through to NCIS and to Abby in their labs. Who was not happy that they were in England without her. The rest of the day was spent waiting for autopsy results and filling in background information on Miller. Abby had also instructed her substitute to run Miller's fingerprints to ensure that it was him, that result had already comeback to confirm that it was.

The days work seemed relatively normal and at the end of it Jenny insisted that the NCIS team leave on the basis that they didn't have clearance to be in on their own. "Well, at least Ducky will have the results of the autopsy by then." McGee stated, as they all started shutting off the computer, and Tony jumped up as he saw Sarah about to leave. "Typical." McGee added, Ziva smiled her agreement.

"Hey, I was wondering if you'd like me to show you how the forensic aspects work." Tony stated, half jogging to catch up and get a step ahead of Sarah. Who stopped and raised an eyebrow at him. She'd been told to keep an eye on them, but she had a feeling that DiNozzo wanted to have a bit more than her eye on him.

She smiled. "You're not a forensic scientist." She replied calmly. "So why would you be teaching me the way it works?"

"Because I've been a very Special Agent for a long time now, so I've picked up some skills." Tony replied with a grin.

Sarah narrowed her eyes slightly. "I doubt the skills you talk about are the ones you're thinking about." She retorted, starting walking again.

"Well, I have skills." Tony assured her, taking a few quick steps to catch up to her again. Sarah smiled at him sweetly but carried on walking, effectively ignoring him from then.

"Give it up, Tony." Ziva stated, making Tony jump from the shock of her being right behind him. "I've seen the way the Captain looks at her, you've got competition."

"I always like a challenge." Tony replied, looking after the young scientist again.

"I thought you preferred them to be as easy as possible." Ziva retaliated, Tony glared at her, but thought of nothing to say that she wouldn't be able to respond to, so he just followed her and the rest of the team out to the cars to head back to the hotel. "I'm driving." Ziva called, slipping into the drivers seat before anyone had a chance to object. Tony and McGee shared a look.

"We're doomed." Tony stated, claiming shotgun as McGee got in the back.

Gibbs had gone down to autopsy to get Ducky when Jenny had shooed him out of the office. He found Ducky telling Abby one of his many stories, who seemed quite amused and interested and was sat on a table at the side of the room. "Anything, Duck?" He asked.

Ducky looked up from stitching the lieutenant up, and Abby stopped giggling as they saw him. "Apart from signs of an animal struggle, none at all." Ducky stated. "I'm almost finished, Jethro." He added.

"Yeah, well we've been chucked out upstairs." Gibbs added, looking at the blonde girl in the corner, who seemed quite happily innocent, she was hiding nothing more than the rest of them. Just the nature of the research that went on in here. "Seems we're not safe on our own." He added, and saw Abby grin some more.

"Becker threatening to shoot you?" She asked.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. Becker hadn't seemed like the type to just threaten to shoot them so easily, Gibbs had decided he liked the man, somewhat. Yes, the man was military and would probably shoot them without question if the situation called for it, but threatening to shoot them to get them out of the building seemed a little excessive. "No, Jenny was insisting we leave." Gibbs added.

"I was joking." Abby added. "But Jenny is a persuasive woman." She added, Gibbs didn't doubt it was true, well, he'd seen just how determined and how persuasive Jenny was. Reminded him of another Jenny he knew.

Ducky cut through the conversation. "Is there anywhere to store our young friend for the duration?" He asked.

Abby hopped off the desk. "Over here." She added, opening a door to reveal three cold shelves. Luckily none of them contained specimens. It didn't take long for the three of them to move the lieutenant "Well, if Jenny says you need to leave, you better not put it off much longer." Abby added, resealing the door

The two NCIS agents didn't disagree, and Abby was slightly suspicious that Gibbs didn't put up any objections and just led Ducky out towards the car. Gibbs had struck her as the kind of man who knew what he wanted to know and do and would do anything to get it done, and done his way. She shrugged it off and headed to get her own things and find Connor and head home.

"So, Duck, what'd you find?" Gibbs asked once they'd reached the car.

Ducky looked at his old friend, he knew that it wasn't about the lieutenant "They're hiding something." He stated, as they both took seats in the car.

"I knew that." Gibbs replied. "I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on what it was."

"Not a clue." Ducky replied. "What does your gut say?" Gibbs faintly smiled but said nothing, which Ducky knew meant that Gibbs didn't know. Yes, his gut knew something was up, but even it didn't know what. Which was saying something, Ducky thought with amusement.

"I want an eye keeping on them." Gibbs stated.

"I don't think you need to tell them to do it." Ducky replied. "They'll probably have already taken mental notes."

"Ziva will have done, but her judgements are often based on the first few seconds." Gibbs replied. "DiNozzo's mind will have been on the wrong aspects of them, and McGee will probably have just trusted them to have given us the relevant information."

"Timothy isn't that naïve any more" Ducky replied. "But he is likely to have left the people up to the others." He added, in a 'point-taken' kind of way.

"Well, he can make friends with Connor." Gibbs started, Ducky didn't need to ask why he'd made that choice. The young dark haired man had been introduced to them as a geek, something they all appreciated McGee for. "You seem to have made a friend out of Abby." Ducky nodded, he'd noticed the girl was tough, and despite the fact he knew she was hiding something, the way she did it made it seem irrelevant, like she was only holding back information they didn't need.

"Well that leaves their team leader, PR woman, scientist and head of security." Ducky added. "Might I assume that you will be watching their team leader?" Gibbs made an agreeing noise. "And then might I suggest that Ziva watch their head of security?"

"I was going to have her watch Jenny." Gibbs replied.

Ducky thought for a moment. "You don't trust her." Then before Gibbs could reply he added, "Especially so."

"No, I don't." Gibbs replied, then an idea occurred to him as they arrived back at the hotel. "Ziva can watch Becker, and DiNozzo can keep an eye on their scientist. The whole of her." He added, as Ducky got out of the car. Who shut the door and then noticed Gibbs was still in the car, and so opened it a crack and leaned in again.

"And I take it you're about to go and do something?" He asked. Gibbs grinned, Ducky knew him far too well, the look on his face suggested he knew damn well where Gibbs was about to go.

"Yeah, Duck, yeah that was the plan." He added, and Ducky smiled and shut the door. And after instinctively trying to release the handbrake with his right hand, he was under way.

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own either Primeval or NCIS, or anything else I might mention throughout the fic if I forget to add it up here.

Generally set; late series 5 NCIS, early series 3 Primeval.

* * *

Cutterlooked up from the pool table he was practising at when he heard footsteps. The pub he was in was usually fairly empty, he'd become a regular as it offered him a reasonably cheap pool table on his route home. "Should I ask how you found me?" He asked, taking his shot.

Gibbs picked up the other pool cue and chalked up whilst Cutter continued with his turn. "No." He decided.

Cutter missed his shot and looked up at the American man who was trying to investigate the death of a navy lieutenant who'd been mauled by a creature, a creature Cutter knew was probably not from their time. He didn't want to block the investigation, but the nature of his job stated that he had to. "You're here because there's something you don't trust about me."

"I just wanted to know who I was working with." Gibbs replied, stretching over the table to try and make his shot. "I like to think I know how they work."

"That doesn't surprise me." Cutter replied, stepping back to the table as Gibbs missed, but only just. "So, how am I doing?" He asked.

Gibbs took a step away from the table, and just observed for a minute before replying. "You don't want to lie to us, but you have to." Gibbs stated. "I think it's that way for your whole team. You're all hoping that our investigation will lead away from your secrets and that we won't have to be read in."

"I would have thought that was understandable, and somewhat obvious." Cutter replied calmly, cursing under his breath and he missed his shot.

"My problem is that I don't know how likely you are to lie and block my investigation." Gibbs explained as he stepped back to the table.

"Do you have a choice but to trust that we will be as helpful as possible?" Cutter asked. He was slowly deciding that he liked this man, despite the fact that their worlds were clashing in an annoying way, he had a vague dawning of respect for him.

"Well, most people who know me think I'm a bastard, and it's because I tend to overrule and bypass their authority." Gibbs replied off-handly, missing another shot.

"So basically you do things the old fashioned way." Cutter decided.

"Yeah, something like that." Gibbs decided, as Cutter finished the game by potting his remaining ball and the black.

"Well, let our bosses argue the territory, and just stay where your investigation takes you and we might not have any issues." Cutter suggested, finishing his pint. "But I don't think you'll play that way even after this conversation."

Gibbs gave a sideways grin and chuckle. "Depends where the investigation takes us." He agreed, Cutter was smart, and quick. He would probably figure out if they strayed too far from the investigation's path, and would probably quite happily throw them bodily from the building if they did. The way their jobs were clashing reminding Gibbs a bit of how his and Fornell's friendship had started out.

The two men parted ways after a brief good-bye, and Gibbs decided Cutter didn't require too much watching, so he could keep a firm eye on Jenny Lewis.

~-x-~

In the morning when they all arrived in to work there was a meeting about what Ducky had found in his autopsy, Abby listened carefully to make sure that all the details were included appropriately. She didn't expect him to lie, but she knew you could never be too sure. He had been quite happy for her to assist him, though she hadn't done a right lot, she had been present throughout and therefore liked to think that she'd been told everything as it had been found.

"So basically we have a navy guy who's been ripped to pieces by an animal of some kind?" Tony asked, leaning back in his chair. "There was an escaped tiger, so case closed?" He added, and Gibbs turned to him and fixed him with the steely gaze he had. "Case not closed because everything must always be double checked." Tony added with a finger in the air, sitting up straight and going back to typing on his computer, Gibbs vaguely grinned in amusement.

"Tony's right, we have no evidence to suggest chicken play and an escaped tiger." Ziva stated with appropriate arm movements. Everyone turned to her and Tony stopped his typing again. "What?" She asked, realising she'd made a mistake somewhere.

"I think you mean foul play, not fowl as in chicken." McGee stated, slightly confused, and Ziva thought for a second.

"Yes." She decided.

The ARC team exchanged slightly confused looks. "She does that." Tony stated. "You get used to it."

"I do speak five languages, Tony." Ziva added sharply.

"Five?" Abby asked, both impressed and shocked. Ziva simply turned to her with a vague smile, and then back to her boss waiting for the decision. She knew Gibbs wouldn't be happy until they'd caught the creature and proved it was responsible.

Gibbs was about to speak when Becker got a phone call, being a soldier it was over pretty quickly due to his efficiency. It was definitely not good news, and he wasn't happy about sharing it in front of the visitors, though not many people could tell that, as he could hide his emotions effectively, however Gibbs could still read him. Becker tapped Jenny's shoulder and whispered into her ear. "The ship's returned to the dock, but it's smashed straight through. My men don't reckon anyone is controlling it." He explained, Jenny didn't need to ask if he'd told his men to secure it and stay clear, he had already done so.

Jenny mentally sighed. She read it the same way Becker did; the creature was on-board the ship, and had either killed everyone, or had put them into hiding to prevent them from being in control. But either way it meant that Gibbs and his team were likely to uncover the truth. She couldn't keep them away without them asking too many questions and finding out anyway. Gibbs would probably follow them.

"Get your men ready." She simply stated, and Becker nodded and hurried off. Jenny took a breath. "The ship has returned from the dock. Which means that we're loading up and going back there."

"Why the urgency?" Gibbs asked, all the NCIS team looked up sharply, was Gibbs really asking why it was urgent? He'd have already been on their asses to get them down to the dock the moment he got the call.

"I didn't think you were a man who liked to wait." Jenny replied calmly. Tony chuckled and without even looking Gibbs clipped his head to shut him up as he knew what he was thinking. Jenny didn't give Gibbs a chance to interject. "Get to the cars." She added, and the ARC team jumped up to go, the NCIS team followed. However Jenny and Gibbs stayed behind. "You don't trust me." She stated.

"Why should I?" He asked.

"Because I'm in charge." Jenny replied. "If you need to know, I'll tell you."

"I'm not known for following orders."

"I've heard." Jenny replied.

"If you are blocking my investigation-"

"What?" Jenny asked. "Are you going to threaten me? I've worked in PR for a long time, threats don't work."

Gibbs turned his glare on her, and Jenny returned it with her own hard stare. This was not a woman he'd be able to intimidate, like Tony often said - worse than lawyers. "So what do I 'need to know'?" He asked, the emphasis clearly quoted her from earlier and in a way that suggested he didn't like it. Which he did not, and he had every intention of finding out the rest of it anyway.

Jenny considered things quickly. "The ship has just crashed into the docks." She explained, she could tell Gibbs read that the same way she and Becker had done. "Special forces go in first. We wait until they've cleared it." She added firmly, turning around to hurry down to the cars. "Sarah, do you and Dr Mallard want to wait here unless we call you down?" She asked, which was really code for 'keep an eye on him'.

"Sure thing, Jenny." Sarah replied, and offered her arm to Ducky and led him to her lab to get him settled with a cup of tea. Abby had told her enough to know how to keep him happily occupied. Get him talking and he'd probably never notice how quickly the time was going by.

Jenny clambered into the passenger seat of the car Nick was driving. Becker and his men had already left, and the NCIS team were in their cars. "Get there fast." She stated. Nick didn't even nod in response, but simply put his foot down and set off. Nearly sending Connor flying as he'd not got his seatbelt on yet.

"So what's got you worked up?" Nick asked as they were en route.

"If they get there before us then they'll go in without authorisation."

"Chances are we'll have to tell them." Nick stated. "If it's on that ship."

"I was hoping Becker and his men could sort it whilst we all wait outside."

"They'll kill it!" Abby interjected before she realised she and Connor were supposed to be being invisible at this moment in time. Jenny turned sharply and breathed deeply. Abby felt slightly guilty, Jenny was trying her best to keep a cover on the situation which was doing it's best to uncover itself, she was stressed, and didn't need anything else to worry about. "Sorry." Abby stated.

"You're right." Jenny sighed. "If it's from the past then we can't risk it."

"I can play the vet card again." Abby stated.

"You might not be able to identify it though." Cutter replied. "Either Connor or I would have to go as well."

Connor opened his mouth to object to letting Abby go anywhere without him, but closed it again as she might notice the objection and that might cause an additional awkwardness which they didn't need, especially now. Jenny decided to take her mind off the issue by phoning Lester and filling him in, and then half put the phone down on him because he was reiterating all the things she already knew.

Becker and his men had arrived at the docks first, and the first thing he did was get the perimeter resealed to keep the creature in. The other two cars arrived at practically the same time. "What's the situation?" Jenny asked, shutting the car door.

"The ship's in a decent enough shape with the exception of the bow which has been smashed in. Nothing's come out of it whilst we've been watching." Becker explained. "We're going to do a sweep of the ship, starting from this end."

"Do you need plans?" Cutter asked, always the practical man.

"Appreciated, but not a necessity." Becker replied calmly.

"What's the plan?" Tony asked, attempting to get some information of this strange team of people.

"We go in, we neutralise the problem, and then you can investigate." Becker replied calmly.

"Try not to kill it." Abby half stated and half asked. The look Becker gave her didn't give her much in the way of encouragement, she returned it with her own stare. They both knew they couldn't have a full argument about this, but it was clear they both wanted to.

"It's only a tiger..." Ziva stated, slightly confused. "Do you not have any tranquillizer darts?"

Becker looked even more unhappy, and instead of replying looked to Jenny, who nodded. So the soldiers headed towards the ship, and into it. "So we wait?" McGee asked.

"We wait." Jenny stated firmly, hoping that it wasn't anything Becker and his men couldn't deal with. She wasn't surprised when Gibbs half stormed, half walked back to the car to wait. The other NCIS members followed, and it wasn't long before the ARC team heard hushed voices quickly discussing the situation.

"Are you sure the best way is to not tell them?" A voice cut through Jenny's thoughts, she turned to see Cutter standing next to her shoulder as she stared at the ship. Abby and Connor weren't stood far away.

"I'm not sure at all." Jenny replied honestly.

"Didn't think so." Cutter replied, an almost smug tone in his voice that made Jenny turn sharply to look at him again, and half frown at the amused half grin on his face. Deciding against attempting to reprimand him in some form, she simply turned back to the ship, watching and waiting for any signs. She tried to keep half an eye on the NCIS team, but they didn't seem too intent on trying to do something stupid.

They waited, it was almost unbearable, but they waited. Eventually the two teams joined up again to chat, trying not to think about what was going on in the ship. They did manage to just about forget about the waiting , until they got a message in their ear. The first was just starting to speak before there was a scream, and then they heard Becker demand what was happening, but getting no response.

Jenny and Cutter shared a look, and then Cutter took charge. "Becker, we're coming in, tell your men not to shoot us by mistake." He stated, going to the car to find a gun. Abby and Connor obeyed without question, following to get their own preferred weapons. Jenny did too.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"We can't keep this under wraps any more" Cutter stated, as the NCIS team joined them at the car. Jenny glared at the floor for a moment, waiting for the inevitable question.

"Keep what under wraps?" McGee asked, as Gibbs just stared at them, knowing by this point, an answer would come.

Jenny sighed. "The real reason that there is a creature on that ship."

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own either Primeval or NCIS, or anything else I might mention throughout the fic if I forget to add it up here.

Generally set; late series 5 NCIS, early series 3 Primeval.

* * *

"Real reason?" Tony asked.

"Creature?" Ziva asked.

Jenny sighed again. "We don't know what the creature is, but we do know it's not from this time." She explained, trying to maintain some secrecy.

"Not from this time?" Tony asked, not quite sure. It would appear that none of the others were either, though he was sure he saw a flicker of excitement on McGee's face.

"I've got a dead navy lieutenant and an entire crew who've been in severe danger and you are telling me you don't know what's doing this?" Gibbs demanded, if it weren't Jenny he was shouting at, Cutter would have been worried. However, he knew that Jenny was more than capable of holding her own.

"No." Jenny replied firmly. "All we know is that it's a dangerous creature from another time. That's all you need to know, and that you are going to help us get it, or them, and try not to kill it."

"Not kill it?" Ziva questioned.

"Killing prehistoric creatures can cause a chain effect of historical changes that we can't predict." Cutter explained, as Connor shut the last gun case, and nodded. "Right, we're ready, so we're going in. If you want to help, you follow our rules." He added, as they started heading towards the ship, a few of Becker's men were still on guard, and they gave a vague greeting and went in. Jenny glanced at the NCIS team, and followed.

Gibbs looked furious, and then grabbed his gun, checked it, and followed. That was all the others needed to follow as well. "Did they really say a creature from another time zone?" Ziva asked, not sure if she was mistranslating.

"They did." McGee replied, not sure to be scared or excited.

Jenny came to a stop just next to their entrance and put her finger to her ear. "Becker, do you know what kind of creature it is?"

"Dangerous." He replied, he'd only seen glimpses of it. "It seems to be built like a tiger, but I've not got a good look at it."

"Sabre-tooth?" Connor half joked. "Sorry." He added, as the rest of the ARC team glared at him for the quip, or at least the tone of it. Cutter split them into three groups, McGee, Jenny and Connor, Tony, Ziva and Abby, and Gibbs and himself.

"The aim is to find the creature and neutralise it, and then we'll get any people out." Cutter stated as they headed in, and split into their respective groups. The ship was in darkness, and they were following either their instincts, tracking knowledge or ship knowledge.

"Should the ship be this dark?" Abby asked quietly, as they slowly swept their area.

"No." Tony replied. "Chances are someone or thing's knocked out the power." He replied, as Ziva shushed the both of them. "Are your Mossad senses tingling again?" Tony joked, and Ziva simply glared at him.

"Remember the Chimera, Tony?" Ziva asked simply, which very quickly shut Tony up. "My senses were correct then, don't doubt them now." She added, still with a simple calm. She only added the last sentence so that Abby didn't get too curious about the events, especially seeing as it had technically been a top secret mission.

~-x-~

Connor, Jenny and McGee were in very much the same position, but a different area of the ship. She and McGee were leading, with Connor checking nothing was following them. So far none of them felt the need to ask questions or talk, though both McGee and Connor had more than enough questions they wanted to ask the other about their line of work, but they both knew better than to have that conversation at that particular time. Something Jenny was surprised about and thankful for.

"You know, it might be an idea to see if we can get the power on." McGee suggested.

"Do you know how?" Jenny asked.

"Yes, ma'am." McGee replied.

"It's Jenny." Jenny replied calmly, she disliked being called ma'am, or madam or any variation. Though she knew he meant it out of respect. "Is it near our section?"

McGee thought, ship layout wasn't his strong point. "It might be." He decided.

"Ok, if we pass the room you need, we'll stop, if not, then we'll just have to deal with the torches." Jenny decided.

~-x-~

Gibbs and Cutter were having next to no conversation, communicating just enough to check corners safely and to do their job. Currently neither had a problem with that level of communication, as for now, they had a job to do. They were getting the job done quickly because of it. After a time they rounded a corner to find the creature, Cutter aimed at it, but missed, and it looked up and turned to run, and Gibbs took aim as well, but it rounded the corner out of shot, and he swore under his breath irritated at the missed opportunity.

"We've had a visual on the creature." Cutter stated. "Abby, it's heading towards your area."

"DiNozzo, David, go starboard." Gibbs added.

"Don't trust us?" Cutter asked, with a wry grin.

"What makes you think that?" Gibbs asked, the same grin mirrored on his face as they ran after the creature, Becker had been right, it did look like a tiger, but it was difficult to tell in the dark.

~-x-~

Meanwhile Abby, Tony and Ziva were all heading in the direction ordered, a little more lost than usual due to the dark. And Jenny had decided that seeing as though they were furthest away from where the creature was supposed to be, that they would take a detour and try and get the power back on. Becker was having one team of his men head towards where Cutter and Abby were heading towards, a small team towards the area that Connor and Jenny were in, the rest were to continue sweeping.

After a short time Abby, Ziva and Tony heard something, and all ducked into the side. "I think we found it." Ziva stated quietly.

"Ok, I'll take the first shot." Abby decided quietly.

"I have more chance of making it." Ziva disagreed.

"I have the tranquilliser gun." Abby reminded her. Ziva unhappily remained quiet with that reminder, they only half knew what was going on.

"I don't think I've ever seen you lose an argument so quickly." Tony chipped, and Ziva didn't even look and just elbowed him as she moved to cover Abby take her shot with the tranquilliser. Both girls rounded the corner at the same time, and then sagged, the creature must have heard their discussion and hurried away from them.

"I knew I should have taken that shot." Ziva muttered.

"Cutter, we lost it." Abby stated, putting a finger to her ear. "We're tracking it now." She added.

"Chances are it's heading your way, Boss." Tony added, as they set off following the obvious path for the creature, the girls leading the way. After a short time Abby stopped dead, noticing a partly open door. "Ok, now what?" Tony asked.

"It won't have gone back, it knows there are people that way." Abby stated.

"But how can we know it's gone down there?" Ziva asked honestly, moments later they heard a shout.

"I guess that answers that question." Tony decided as they hurried through the open door, towards the noise they heard.

~-x-~

Meanwhile McGee was trying to restore power to the ship, and Connor was helping whilst Jenny attempted to keep tabs on what was happening, but as she only got bits and pieces over the earpieces, she wasn't able to piece a lot together. "Ok, that should do it." McGee decided, as he and Connor replaced the last component, and McGee headed over to the main switches, and flicked them back on.

They all looked up at the sudden return of the power and lights, and then instantly turned away again, blinking heavily to allow their eyes to adjust to the change. "Well, at least we might be able to see what we're up against now." Connor commented.

"We still have to find it again." Jenny replied. "Come on." She added, indicating back out of the door and back to the area they'd been given to sweep. There wasn't much chance of it being in their area, but they might as well head to the most likely bit of it that it might be. From what she could tell everyone was closing in on where the creature was most likely to be. Though a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Has anyone had any signs of the crew?" She asked, putting a finger to her own ear to participate in the brief bits of conversation rather than just listening.

Both Becker and Cutter called in saying they hadn't. "Abby?" Jenny asked, realising that she hadn't got a reply from the girl, and saw Connor flash her a worried look.

"Nothing yet, Jenny." Abby replied. "Bear with us, we might in a moment." She added.

"Ok." Jenny replied. "Keep us updated."

"Will do." Abby agreed quietly, as they heard what sounded like another shout and a bang, and with a look at Tony and Ziva the three of them all ran towards the noise. They rounded the corner to find a patch of blood on the wall, and a slightly open door. Silently Tony indicated to Ziva to check down the corridor, and for Abby to open the door so he could clear the room.

The moment Tony stepped into the doorway, something collided with his head, the combined efforts of him attempting to duck and the assailants attempt to stop mid swing reduced the severity of the hit, but it still hurt and sent him to the floor. "Are you all right?" Abby asked, not sure if she was asking Tony or the new man. Tony nodded as he stood up again, raising his pistol again, noting that Ziva had never lost her shot.

"Has that thing gone?" The man asked.

"What thing might that be, lieutenant?" Tony asked, noting the man's rank.

The lieutenant was currently hefting one of the large spanners used down in engineering as a weapon, and they could understand why they hadn't wanted to break out some of the heavier weapons, in such close - especially metal - quarters gunfire had a much higher chance of ricocheting in dangerous directions. Becker had given the ARC team a lecture on it as they had been preparing their weapons, it wasn't the first time he had either, but he had felt the need to repeat the lesson. He never was sure how much they actually listened to him. "And you are?" He asked, both Tony and Ziva flashed their badges at the man, though Ziva still had her gun raised. He recognised it instantly. "Something's been prowling the halls. We didn't realise until we were out of port and a couple of the crewmen on the lower decks appeared with serious injuries. Whatever it is, it's fast, we never got a good look at it on the cameras. Though based on times we think there's three." He grimaced as he shifted his position and jostled the arm he wasn't holding the spanner with, Abby guessed from the state of it he'd been using it to fend off the creature.

Abby instantly relayed that to Cutter, who had to resist cursing under his breath. "Where's the rest of the crew?" Ziva asked.

"Captain had us bunked down in the mess after signalling a mayday, it's defensible and was where all the supplies were. However once we hit something and stopped we knew we had to investigate, so we sent a few teams out for a sit rep."

"You said you never saw what it was on the cameras, what did you see when you got that?" Abby asked, indicating his injured arm.

"Didn't, really." He admitted, looking somewhere between furious and sheepish. He didn't want to admit he'd been caught off guard, that was embarrassing, and it made him angry. "Like I said, it's fast. It caught me from behind, I blocked and swung for it, must've scared it off." He explained, raising the spanner slightly to indicate it. "It looked like a big cat of some sort, maybe. But nothing I recognise."

"You should get back to the mess hall and patch up your arm." Abby suggested. "We can take care of it from here." The lieutenant looked to Tony and Ziva, trying to decide whether or not to argue, but Tony shook his head as if to warn him from arguing, and Ziva still had her weapon trained on him. Apparently deciding that silent and deadly was going to be the best solution to this problem. "You should go and protect your men." Abby added persuasively. The man relented, agreeing to go back to the mess, and as they escorted him back they almost breathed a sigh of relief that they got him back without losing any further breaching in confidentiality. As Abby said, Jenny would have them all for breakfast, Tony seemed to perk up at the idea before Abby clarified that he wouldn't enjoy it.

~-x-~

Cutter and Gibbs meanwhile had been efficiently searching their area of the ship, still mostly in silence. Their earlier system was proving highly efficient as they swept the engineering sections. Since McGee & Connor had got the lights back on it had become even easier. The explanation from Abby about the crew situation had helped as well, that meant that the mess area was safe and free of creatures. Cutter had briefly asked whether or not that made some areas a more likely home for anything, and Gibbs had replied with the admission he didn't know, and that if he were looking to hide the mess wouldn't have been his first choice anyway.

"But if you were to bunker down and defend your territory, it has food, water and likely good sight lines. It's where the crew chose." Cutter explained, and Gibbs conceded the point, if only briefly.

"But now the crew are the food." Gibbs countered.

They fell into silence as they continued, before Cutter put a finger to his ear. "Becker, do you have anything?"

"Since your sighting earlier, none confirmed." Becker replied, pausing to signal to one of his men before they rounded another corner. "We're playing cat and mouse."

"Are we the cat or mouse?" Cutter asked, and Becker chose not to reply.

"Can we smoke them out?" Connor suddenly piped up in the ear pieces, the man had been so uncharacteristically quiet Cutter had actually forgotten he had an earpiece in.

"We have a couple of gas masks in the truck, but not enough for all of us." Becker replied firmly.

"And you risk getting the crew caught in the crossfire." Ziva added.

"I wasn't thinking lethal gases, I was thinking literal smoke, something to scare them." Connor tried to explain, before Jenny shushed him. Everyone fell silent, counting the heartbeats whilst deciding whether or not it was safe to ask.

Cutter had counted five before he heard Jenny's voice. "Becker, we saw it, heading towards the bow."

All of the military men frowned, plus Tony as he tried to remember the layout of the ship. "That doesn't make any-"

"It does if there's three of them." Ziva cut in.

Becker stopped as he saw one of his soldiers raise a fist, and he quickly indicated for one of the others to watch their backs, he'd already been in this job too long, he concluded, if he knew to be wary of pack hunters without Abby repeatedly reminding him. He was stalking towards one of his comrades, carefully trying not to alert what might've been seen, when both men ducked as they saw a large shape jump towards them. Their usual reflexes to shoot all tempered by their location, instead instinctively ducking away from what was attacking them. Becker twisted to his knees so that he could see what was happening, tranquilliser rifle raised - that had been a long argument with both Cutter and Abby, but as they were splitting up one of each group had to have tranquillisers - but the soldier whom the creature had pounced on had already kicked upwards, throwing it off him. Becker didn't know much about the different types of creatures yet, but he recognised it as a large cat, and was tentatively deciding it was a sabre toothed tiger, based on the teeth at any rate, it didn't look much like a tiger. It hissed at both of them, jumping as if it couldn't decide which to attack first, but the creature's moment of indecision allowed Becker plenty of time to take his shot. The creature recoiled as the tranquilliser hit it's side, whining at the pain, making an attempt to turn to flee, but slumped in it's attempt, completely passed out. Becker shared a look with his men, checking they were all right, and they nodded, before he pushed himself to his feet, and strode over to the creature, gun still aimed, and cautiously nudged it with his foot. Definitely knocked out. "Professor, we've contained one of them." He reported back.

"Do you need help moving it?" Cutter asked, as he and Gibbs neared the last room in their area.

"Negative, we should be able to deal with it. It's out cold." Becker explained. "Do you need to see it to advise?" He checked, it would be easiest not to involve any of the scientists. They tended to get excited about all the wrong things and not realise their own foibles, making it harder to protect them. At least soldiers were pragmatic first and foremost. But the scientists had knowledge that would benefit their efforts in containing this threat.

"Coordinate with Connor." Cutter decided, and Becker had to admit it was typical he'd get Connor, that man got distracted by almost everything. But he couldn't deny that Connor knew his stuff. Instead the soldier remained completely professional and coordinated with Connor on how to meet, preferably without anything getting shot. Considering the size and layout of the ship, they weren't actually that far apart.

It didn't take Cutter and Gibbs much longer to finish clearing the room they were in. "Gibbs." Cutter whispered, tranquilliser pistol still raised at what he'd just found, using his head to beckon the other man over. Gibbs complied, carefully making his way over with his own sig raised. Once he'd joined him, Gibbs looked to where the professor was looking, and had to blink to make sure he was actually seeing it. "Yeah..." Cutter agreed.

"I take it you have a plan?" Gibbs asked.

Cutter chose not to answer that. "We have a problem."

"Just one?" Tony asked, before falling silent from the look he just knew Gibbs was giving him.

"We found their den, and a litter of cubs." Cutter explained. "Four cubs known about, unsure on the number of adults."

"Cutter, you should leave, the mother will defend-"

"I know." Cutter interrupted the blonde zoo keeper. "But it's not going to be so simple."

"We're in the munitions store." Gibbs explained succinctly, deciding that the professor was taking far too long about it.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own either Primeval or NCIS, or anything else I might mention throughout the fic if I forget to add it up here.

Generally set; late series 5 NCIS, early series 3 Primeval.

* * *

It was amazing how long time could appear to stretch almost indefinitely when the situation became more complicated. Cutter and Gibbs were warily watching the litter of four cubs that they'd found in a munitions store. Jenny, Connor and McGee were making their way to Becker's location to help identify and remove one of the stunned adults. Abby, Tony and Ziva were a few decks above Cutter and Gibbs and nearer the stern, they had been tracking their own  
creature before Becker had shot his.

"Cutter, I've loaded the tranquillisers too strong for use on cubs." Abby warned, clearly worried about the cubs well-being if anyone tried to dose one with a dart, even if was done by hand not gun.

"And we can't risk moving them in case they call for their parents." Cutter agreed. "Unless..." He trailed off looking up at Gibbs.

"No." Becker interrupted firmly. "Don't even think about it."

"Too late." Cutter retorted. "Who is nearby? I don't want to risk carrying more than one each."

The radio went silent again as people tried to determine their relative positions, only Gibbs seemed entirely at home with the landscape, even Tony was struggling to remember the exact routes despite his time afloat. "We can be with you quite quickly." He reckoned after a few moments.

"Seeing as I can't talk you out of this, can I at least get you to hold off until we've finished moving this one?" Becker asked, a combination of tired, frustrated and exasperated.

"Maybe." Cutter replied.

Becker knew that was as much as an affirmative as he was ever going to get. He reorganised his men to shift this creature as fast as they could, the longer they took the longer the rest of the team had to do something dangerous, and often stupid, sometimes genius But he was never going to let on about that last part, they didn't need to be encouraged to make his job more difficult. Though, if he were honest, the problem wasn't that they made his job more difficult, but their blatant disregard for their own lives when they were his friends. "Just don't blow the ship up." He decided.

"Yeah, even Jenny won't be able to cover that up!" Connor interjected, then remembered that Jenny was stood behind him as Becker just raised a bemused eyebrow at him. "I didn't mean-"

"I don't need the challenge, Connor." Jenny assured him. "So, please don't." She warned Cutter.

Cutter was about to reply that he hadn't, then remembered that he had, and then remembered that Jenny hadn't been there, she hadn't existed there. Did that anomaly even happen in this time line? He wondered, insisting that his brain ponder on that question rather than fondly remembering Claudia Brown.

~-x-~

They all continued with their tasks whilst the first of the adult cats was transported out, Connor had identified it as a sabre toothed tiger; smilodon. Becker had asked if they still doubted that, and had inadvertently prompted a full on explanation that there were creatures that looked like sabre toothed tigers but weren't even cats technically. The solider almost regretted asking, before Cutter gently reminded Connor that he really should keep the radio waves clear unless it was important. Jenny had to hide her smile as Connor continued on where he left off now that he'd 'remembered' to turn his radio off as was protocol, Becker almost looked like he needed saving, but she figured this was good for him. She wasn't sure how if she ever had to justify it, but surely she could work something out about knowledge benefiting all? McGee looked hooked on all the information.

"You talk about this as if it's normal." He stated, clearly still not quite believing he wasn't dreaming.

"Well, it is." Connor replied honestly. "This is us."

"This isn't normal."

"You know, it's been so long I've forgotten what normal is supposed to be." Connor admitted.

No one had a chance to reply as they heard a shout over the radio, followed by a thud and a frustrated noise. "Guys, we've got another adult, grazed with a tranquilliser, but I think the dart fell out before it got enough of a dose." Abby reported in, as both she and Ziva hurried towards where Tony had been knocked into the wall and had subsequently fallen to the floor. Ziva nodded with her pistol raised, twisting to check both directions, and Abby ducked down to check Tony's pulse. He came too moments later, clearly just stunned rather than worse.

"Am I seeing double or are there really two beautiful girls here?" He joked.

Abby frowned as she tried not to laugh. "We should get you checked for injuries."

"He's fine." Ziva assured her, if Tony was making jokes that terrible, he was fine.

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked over the radio.

"Good, boss. Just bruised." Tony confirmed, as he hauled himself up, wincing. Abby raised an eyebrow. "You try being thrown into a wall." He muttered.

"It's easier to duck." Abby retorted. "You'll have to help me in the menagerie one day, then you'll learn what being knocked on your arse really feels like."

"You volunteering to go first then?"

Abby just silently moved forward to take point, reloading her tranquilliser pistol as she did, and they resumed their journey towards where Gibbs and Cutter were, the sooner they could all get out of this mess the better. However, the further they went, the more Abby felt like she was being stalked. They had light now, but she could swear she could hear a light padding sound that wasn't being caused by their footsteps, but every time she stopped to try and locate the sound it disappeared. If she hadn't been doing this as long as she had she would have thought she was going crazy.

"Take a left." Tony stated as they approached a junction in the corridor, and Abby and Ziva shared a look before the blonde stepped to check to the left, and Ziva stepped after her to cover the right. Both girls found it clear, and they turned back to Tony.

"Duck!" Ziva shouted as both girls saw the smilodon pounce towards him, Tony did as he was told and Abby raised her pistol to shoot. She got it in the side as it landed, and it managed to snarl at them before the tranquilliser knocked it out. After a second during which they rechecked their perimeter Abby hurried towards the tiger she'd just stunned, carefully stroking it's fur as she checked it's breathing, she didn't think the dose she'd given it was too much for it to handle, but it was always best to check as every creature reacted in it's own way, even after they had a lot of experience with certain types. This one appeared to be snoozing quite happily.

"Cutter, we've stunned another one." She reported in as Ziva joined her opposite the creature, looking fascinated and awed by the creature between them. As Abby grinned, Ziva reached out a tentative hand to stroke along the tiger's fur, feeling the raw power relaxed by tranquilliser Ziva found herself respecting the ARCs decision to not kill these creatures unless it was absolutely necessary, even though her instinct was to kill or be killed.

"Make that two." Tony added, causing both women to look up sharply, to see another tiger slowly prowling towards them, as if it were weighing up whether or not to pounce at them or if they were too dangerous.

Abby raised her pistol, before the redundant click almost made her heart stop, she'd forgotten to reload when she checked on the creature. She scrabbled to find another dart to load, attracting the attention of the creature with the movement and alerting Tony and Ziva to the predicament. Abby focused on reloading whilst Ziva counted heartbeats so she knew when to shoot, when she knew Abby couldn't shoot in time. Tony decided thinking wasn't in their best interests, and so shouted, quickly attracting the creatures attention.

"Tony, either shoot or run." Ziva hissed.

Tony chose the latter, turning to run back towards the exit of the ship. "I'll lead it out!" He shouted, as the smilodon leapt to chase after him.

"Out?" Abby mouthed in horror as she finished reloading. She waited until Tony and the creature were out of earshot. "Becker, get your men ready, Tony's leading the creature off the ship, stun it the moment they see it. Stun, not kill!" She added quickly. "Is there anyone spare to remove the one we've stunned?"

"Really, no back up?" Tony called over the comm.

"You said you were leading it out." Abby pointed out.

"This place is a maze!"

"We'll aim to meet up with him, we're half way out now, so it should time well." Becker came over the comm, sounding remarkably calm considering that everyone else was trying to get themselves killed. He'd definitely been working at the ARC too long. He indicated to his men that he was going to go ahead to try and catch up with Tony. "Do Cutter and Gibbs still need back up?"

"It would be nice." Cutter chipped in. "But don't leave any creature unattended."

Otherwise it's more likely we'll get company in here." Gibbs added quietly.

Abby and Ziva shared a look. "I've got this, you go and help them." Abby decided, and Ziva nodded, hurrying to go and find Cutter and Gibbs. That left Abby looking at a fully grown stunned smilodon, and she sighed again. "All right big boy, lets get you home." She looked around, before holstering her tranquilliser pistol with a sigh. "Somehow." She muttered to herself.

~-x-~

Becker had made it clear - though he hadn't had to - that as he and his men carted the stunned smilodon, Jenny needed to take the others and find Cutter and Gibbs to help them out. "At least we've found all three now." Connor tried, growing tired of the silence, and it slightly unnerved him.

Jenny tried not to look too despairing as she kept her guard and gun up. "How long have you been doing this, Connor?" She asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Connor asked, completely oblivious.

"Just because the crew only thing they saw three..." Jenny started, chancing a glance over her shoulder as McGee indicated that the corner was clear. "Doesn't mean there is only three." Connor realised she had a very good point.

"Let's just hope they don't want their cubs back before we get them away from the munition bay." McGee added.

"It's never that easy." Jenny warned him, though she suspected McGee wasn't quite as optimistic as Connor.

It was a thought that Becker shared, as he paused with Abby to check she was okay before hurrying to go and catch up with Tony and Ziva, things were never easy in this line of work. If having creatures on the loose wasn't bad enough, and having non ARC members know about it, and having to play cat and mouse then it was definitely topped by having to do it on a navy ship. He had no idea why navies insisted on designing ships that couldn't be easily traversed in logical ways, but it was infuriating.

He found his way onto the deck, and saw no sign of Tony or Ziva, he called in for a sit rep. He got a half breathless reply from Tony who reckoned he was approaching the deck. Becker knew there were a few different options, but quickly spied a walkway just above him that would give him a viewpoint on most of them, and quickly climbed his way up there.

Tony would never admit it when Ziva could hear him, but he was getting tired, but there was no way he dared to slow. Even if he knew that Ziva was following him ready to step in if needed, always his wildcat when he needed her. Suddenly he was all but blinded as the door he opened by half falling through led onto the deck, steeping him in forgotten sunlight. He glanced around to try and find any of the soldiers, but didn't see them so didn't change his plan of running away from the smilodon, which - based on the crash he heard behind him as it hit the wall on the corner he'd just turned before the door - was still too close behind him.

He had barely gone twenty paces onto the deck when he heard a single word. "Duck." Becker stated simply, and given Tony's experience of military men, he obeyed, and flung himself to the floor, seconds later hearing the 'swoosh' of a projectile before the dull thunk of the impact. He rolled enough to look at the creature that had been chasing him and saw it stumble, still looking intently at him, before it wobbled and it's eyes lost focus before it fell to the floor, made a feeble attempt to take another step, before loosing consciousness.

Ziva appeared from the door a second later, looking concerned that Tony was on the floor, before she saw Becker drop to the deck a few paces away from him and offer him a hand up. "Is that three stunned?" She asked instead, knowing that Tony would make it well known if he wasn't okay. Becker nodded as he radioed it in.

~-x-~

In the time it took for Jenny's team to approach the munitions area - they might have made a few wrong turns - Abby had finished supervising everyone prepare and lock down the creatures for transport back to the ARC. That meant that they were then free to head back into the ship to lend a hand. "Copy that." Cutter confirmed they'd heard. "So far there's been no unusual movement in here." Though he did almost smile at the look on Gibbs face as if to refute that any of this didn't count as 'unusual'.

They had been lucky so far in that the cubs had been snoozing and therefore had only required an eye keeping on them, but as Cutter expected - and Gibbs was not surprised - their luck ran out when one of the cubs sat up with a massive yawn, before stretching itself out inadvertently head butting one of it's siblings as it did. The other sleepy cub rolled and playfully batted at the thing that had woken it, which prompted the slightly more awake cub to pounce onto it to play fight.

Cutter and Gibbs shared a look, before both men turned back to the cubs, who were mewling in what they supposed must sound aggressive to young cubs, before they rolled out of the makeshift den. Cutter moved to pick them back up and gently put them back in the bed that their mother had made for them out of a tarpaulin of some kind and a discarded jacket. Once the cubs realised they weren't alone, they both started howling for help. Cutter had not entirely written off such an occurrence, but he was more concerned about the cubs escaping into the munitions than their cries for help, hoping they were lucky enough to have caught all their parents.

"How far out is everyone?" Gibbs quietly asked his radio.

"We're only a minute or so away, boss, I think." McGee replied.

"We're only just returning to the ship." Tony added. "We'll be a bit longer, but less than ten minutes."

"What's happened?" Abby asked.

"The cubs have woken up, and they want their mum." Cutter explained, over his futile effort to calm down the cubs.

"How many ways into the store are there?" Jenny asked as everyone picked up their pace.

"Two, I think." McGee replied.

"How long will it take you to circle to the other one?" Jenny followed up as they slowed down at the last junction between them and their bosses.

"A minute or so." McGee replied, and Jenny nodded. "Through that door and then it's the first on the left." He instructed, and Jenny reminded him not to shoot it unless he didn't have a choice. McGee nodded to indicate he understood before reaffirming the grip on his gun as he left Jenny and Connor to go and check on the other doorway, explaining to Gibbs what he was doing.

Jenny led the way she and Connor had to meet up with the others again, as he backed her up, neither felt reassured until she placed her hand on the door. "We're at the store, there's nothing here." She reported in as they finished sweeping the corridor.

"We're a couple of minutes out." Becker confirmed.

"Approaching the western door now." McGee added, before seeing a large shadow moving in the doorway as he approached. "Boss, lookout, you might have company."

Gibbs turned sharply with his weapon raised, Cutter stood back up as well, looking around the entire room whereas Gibbs was focused on the area McGee was coming from. "What did you see?" Cutter asked.

"Not sure, a shadow, but it was moving." McGee explained, feeling a little foolish for being so jumpy when it could have been anything. But that was the point, wasn't it? That it could have been anything, including another sabre-tooth.

Gibbs certainly didn't dismiss it as foolishness, as he carefully edged towards that door. His hearing was just sharp enough to hear the creature before he was able to see it as it dove towards him, giving him just enough time to duck away from it's outstretched claws. He landed on the floor nearby, spinning with his gun still raised as it turned away from him to where Cutter was still stood between it and it's babies. Before Gibbs had even brought his other hand to steady his shot so that he didn't accidentally hit the professor or any munitions the smilodon stumbled as if it had been shot, and he saw the bright plume of a tranquilliser dart sticking out of it's side, just before the creature keeled over at Cutter's feet.

Both men turned to the walkway above them to see Jenny with her wrists propped on the railing, Connor stood behind her. "Nice shot!" He decided enthusiastically.

"Thanks." Cutter added.

Jenny nodded a little unsurely, not entirely sure she believed she'd really just made that shot without hitting anything else. Normally she wouldn't be quite so unsure of her aim, but she was surrounded by explosives, so the risk was higher if she missed. She had a little internal laugh at the realisation that it could be riskier than normal.

Somehow things were easier after that, they had enough of them to carry the cubs, and Becker took his men to sweep the rest of the ship, along with Gibbs, Tony and Ziva - they had better knowledge of the ship layout than he did. Abby soon had the cubs and their mother secured in the truck with the rest of their visitors, that made four adults and four cubs. They only found one other creature, another adult, but it was barely alive when they found it. It had taken a blow to the head, which they supposed had been delivered by one of the crew members trying to defend themselves before they were able to hunker down in the mess. Abby was soon dealing with it and took the truck back to the ARC before the rest of them so that she had all of her kit and give it the best chance of survival.

Once they confirmed that the ship was clear of all creatures, Jenny offered the ARC building as a location to interview and debrief the crew on what had happened. With no obvious alternative Gibbs agreed, and as the rest of the team escorted the crew to the ARC, Jenny hung back long enough to make arrangements to have the ship fixed. Lester might not thank her for the few favours she had to use or offer to make that happen, but it was better than the alternative. When she was finished she returned to the cars to find only Becker and a couple of soldiers, who had just confirmed their original assessment that the ship was clear of creatures. "Do you want to go back and triple check, or can we head back?" Jenny teased. Becker barely reacted, but a quirk of his eyebrow and the corner of his mouth told Jenny that he'd got the joke, instead he told her to get in the car.

Given that they'd never gone public with any story they had some leeway with what to tell the sailors, no on at the ARC thought they'd heard the phrase 'extraordinary circumstances' so much in such a short space of time as the NCIS team explained that a smuggling operation for exotic pets had gone awry and the cargo - a pack of cougars - had escaped.

~-x-~

By evening they'd finished debriefing, and found temporary accommodation for the crew until the navy decided on their next assignment, but it was no longer anything to do with the ARC, and everyone had been escorted off the premises. Gibbs headed down to their make-shift autopsy room to find Ducky, who was helping Abby patch up the most injured smilodon. "Ah, Jethro, this is extraordinary" Ducky stated as he noticed Gibbs enter the room. "A real live, breathing sabre-tooth tiger. A smilodon."

Abby grinned as she heard the excitement about the discovery in Ducky's voice, she had mostly stabilised the creature, and was now patching it up before taking it to a pen for observation. It had been nice to have his help, even if his anatomy knowledge was human not animal, it was better than she often had helping her when they were out in the field. "Do we know if any killed our guy?" Gibbs asked.

"The wounds certainly match the teeth and claws of these creatures." Ducky explained. "I've taken measurements - don't worry, I didn't write smilodon on them - to send to our Abby for confirmation." He added. "And this Abby took swabs from all the creatures claws and teeth to run for DNA, but given the length of time we might not get anything."

"We have the capability to run them here if required, but I'm not sure whether or not Connor and McGee were able to sort out the connection to your databases." Abby admitted.

Gibbs hated leaving things uncertain, but they'd found nothing, no bullet, no knife blade or anything to suggest foul play. No sign the body had been moved or tampered with, and his team had been unable to find an obvious reason for anyone wanting this guy dead. As part of the debrief they had interviewed the crew about their dead comrade, but none of them had flashed up on his radar. However, they had access to the ship now that the ARC had cleared the area, so he would take his team back to check Miller's bunk and locker before they headed home, because if that didn't turn anything up they had no other leads to run down, and would be forced to rule it accidental death. Even Gibbs had to admit, that it was the most likely scenario, but rule number 3 existed for a reason. "Abs can run them when we get back." He decided.

"I must admit I'm surprised, Jethro, I expected you to keep us here until your gut was satisfied." Ducky half joked.

~-x-~

Back in the ops area Tony was trying to organise them some flights for the following night - Gibbs' orders, and not having much luck with it. "I just know we're going to be on another priority military class flight." He grumbled.

"Chin up, Tony, at least we'll be heading towards home." McGee attempted to cheer the other man up. "And you won't be being chased by any 'escaped cougars'."

"I thought Tony liked cougars?" Ziva asked.

"He prefers them younger." McGee corrected, and Ziva nodded in exaggerated understanding.

"I don't have to find seats for you." Tony scolded. "Yes, I'm still here!" He added sharply as he was taken off hold again, only to be told, yet again that there were no seats available. That was before he had even gotten onto their particularly unique type of cargo. "I have one airline left to try, otherwise we're military cargo again."

"You'd think by now we'd have learnt to sleep on them, like Gibbs." McGee observed, they'd done this too many times. "And Ziva." He added, their friendly Mossad agent had also never had trouble kipping on the cargo jets they flew.

"You should try his driving." Sarah teased as she, Becker and Connor joined the NCIS team, indicating to the soldier. "I swear he views the city as a rally course."

Becker just shrugged. "It's better than the professor's." Connor added.

"Better than the professor's what?" Cutter asked, as he and Jenny left Lester's office after their own 'debrief', walking down the ramp.

Connor looked like a rabbit caught in the headlamps, Sarah giggled, and he turned to Becker as if seeking help, but the soldier just returned the gaze with a blank one. "Uh, is there any way I can get out of the trouble I am probably, definitely in?" Connor asked.

"Not really." Cutter confirmed, he wasn't really mad or annoyed with Connor for this, but it was far more fun to let the younger man think he was.

No one felt the need to help him out either. "So, what do you do after dealing with prehistoric creatures?" McGee asked.

The members of the ARC team shared a look as if to ask each other if that was a real question. "Go home, eat and sleep usually." Cutter replied. "Same as any day."

The NCIS team shared a look themselves. "This really has become normal to you, hasn't it?" Ziva realised.

"Well dealing with bodies has become normal to us." Tony interjected. "Look at little Timothy McGee over there, one day he was almost puking when visiting Ducky, now he's comfortable as the rest of us in autopsy."

"Yeah, you get used to that here too." Sarah admitted, with a concerned look on her face. "But the advice I was given on my first day, was a bottle of beer."

"Literally." Connor added. "Like no words, just the bottle."

"I'm starting to feel left out." Becker joked. "I started on the same day and I didn't get a friendly drink."

Everyone else shared a look, clearly not used to the solider making jokes. "I think we can all agree that that isn't part of a normal day." Sarah decided.

* * *


End file.
